


Freckles, Sleeping Shifts, and Souls

by Diary



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Bechdel Test Fail, Benny Lafitte & Dean Winchester Friendship, Castiel & Dean Winchester Friendship, Castiel & Dean Winchester in Purgatory, Families of Choice, Gen, Late Night Conversations, Love, Male Friendship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-23
Updated: 2016-02-23
Packaged: 2018-05-22 20:19:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,600
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6092893
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Diary/pseuds/Diary
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Repost. “Relax, my friend,” Benny says. “I like ‘em younger, prettier, and smoother. Besides, I know how many times I’ve kissed you.” Complete.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Freckles, Sleeping Shifts, and Souls

**Author's Note:**

> I do not own Supernatural.

“This isn’t strategic, Dean,” Cas declares. “You and Benny both-”

“Shut up, Cas,” Dean snaps. “This works.”

“Much as I don’t like saying it,” Benny interjects, “Castiel here has a point. You need more sleep than me, and I need more than I’ve been getting. We have a sleepless-”

“Damn it, Benny, stow your crap and stop trying to enable him! Our system works, and we-”

Enable,” Cas murmurs. Stepping forward, he says, “Dean, you’re afraid I’ll disappear, again.”

Dean twitches and takes a breath. “Cas, now is not the time to-”

“I can’t expect you to trust me as you once did,” Cas interrupts. “We both know what I did. To heaven. To Earth. And to you and Sam. But Dean, if you’re willing to die to get me out, you still have some form of affection for me. You said you needed me. I’m appealing to that part: Trust that I left to keep the Leviathans away from you. If I leave, you’ll put yourself, and possibly, Benny, in jeopardy, trying to find me. I won’t do that to you.”

“If he does, I’ll be happy to kill him,” Benny offers.

Rubbing his head, Dean snaps, “Are you- is this you trying to be helpful? No killing the angel, Benny!”

“He couldn’t if he tried.”

“I like my odds,” Benny retorts with a smirk.

“Fine,” Dean says, “but I swear to God, Cas, if you so much as move from an inch your spot until it’s time to get us up or because monsters decided to cut naptime short, I’ll find a way to make you sorry, you son of a bitch. We clear?”

“We’re clear.”

“Fine, you can have first watch. No killing the vampire, Cas,” he warns. “And- just keep your eyes out for monsters. Don’t try to count my freckles, again. It’s creepy.”

Benny makes a noise of amusement while they crawl into a nearby cave.

“Don’t,” Dean orders. “Your kind is pretty fond of that type of thing.”

“Relax, my friend,” Benny says. “I like ‘em younger, prettier, and smoother. Besides, I know how many times I’ve kissed you.”

“When and why have you-”

“He hasn’t,” Dean interjects. He sinks down to the ground. “It’s a- there’s a saying, that freckles are marks left behind when an angel kisses someone.”

“I highly doubt that’s true,” Cas says. He sinks down when Dean reaches up and tugs at his hand. “Regardless, I’ve never- that’s not why I’ve tried to count them.”

“Benny’s just being a dick,” Dean replies. “Four hours, and then, we move.”

“I understand.”

…

“This isn’t working,” Benny says. He plants his foot firmly on Dean’s wrist and tells Cas, “Now.”

Carefully, Cas squeezes the plant and lets the juice fall on Dean’s wound.

“You’re just now realising this,” Dean grits out. He reaches up to brush away his tears with his free hand. “I’m fine. Off.”

“I didn’t sign up to deal with your abandonment issues,” Benny snaps. He steps off. “You know that, if he left, I’d hear it before you did? And after everything we’ve gone through to find him, you can bet your ass I’d be hauling you up.”

“Dean-”

“Both of you drop it,” he mutters. He sits up, carefully rotates his arm, and rubs his wrist. “Ever think the problem is I’m getting too much sleep?”

“You wake up every hour, and it takes you ten minutes to get back to sleep,” Benny says.

“And you know this, how exactly?” He inquires with a glare at Cas.

A group of demons appears.                                                                                                                                       

…

Benny wakes up gasping.

Cas tilts his head. “You lost someone you loved.”

“Yeah,” he acknowledges. “I did. It was my fault.”

“I can sympathise.”

Sitting up, Benny stretches and looks over at Dean. “Sympathise with him. Every prayer he whispered, I heard. And I don’t just mean since I first came across from him. I was minding my own business, and suddenly, I hear this voice, can’t pinpoint it, carrying on about hating angels and worrying about this Sammy boy and desperation for this Cas fella. I started hearing about this crazy, near indestructible hunter by the name of Dean Winchester, and I got the feeling that he and this voice went together. When I found him, sure enough, first words he speaks, I recognise him. Who knows how many prayers he’s kept in his head?”

Sighing, Cas closes his eyes. When he opens them, he says, “He’ll wake in a minute or two.”

Benny doesn’t say anything, and when the time passes, Benny comments, “Look at that. He’s deep in dreamland.”

“I never told you how often he woke,” Cas says. “I wondered how you knew, but I see, now. Your hearing.”

“I ain’t no fool. Letting myself sleep when a nearby hunter’s awake, that goes beyond stupid, straight into suicidal.”

“But you did.”

“I didn’t have much of a choice. Once you came along, I did.”

“Dean’s proven himself trustworthy.”

“You haven’t. At least, not yet. He’ll wake up in an hour.”

“You would both be safer if I left.”

“Preaching to the choir, Castiel. It doesn’t change the fact he’s tortured, fought to the death, and prayed, all for you.”

“How long will it take for him to sleep for the allotted time without waking?”

“As long as it takes,” Benny answers. He lies back down.

“You imply a lot of things,” Cas says.

“What, that he’s in love with you, and you with him,” Benny inquires. “Thing is, I don’t know for sure about you. You’re fond of him, and you once did some unforgivable things. He’s forgiven you anyways. You like his freckles. You’re willing to die for him. Those things could point to anything. But when it comes to him- I had two options: Try to find someone else to give me a ride, or keep him alive until we found you. I thought long and hard about taking option one, but the thing is, he’s a hunter, and me and you are both supernatural. It might go against my normal way to trust a hunter, but in his case, it’s the best of a bad situation.”

“However, you care for him beyond-”

“Care, yes,” Benny interrupts. “I’ve been betrayed. I’ve lost loved ones. I’m a soldier. For all of our sakes, you can get over your jealousy. Love, real love, is grand, but I’ve never been one to take to other men like that. Besides,” he says, “just because she died, it doesn’t mean my love did.”

…

Dean shivers while they clean weapons.

“Dean, it’s cold. Take my coat,” Cas insists.

“I’m not a girl, Cas,” Dean snaps. “Question for you: We don’t need to eat, but we need to sleep. What am I missing?”

“I’m not sure what’s sustaining your human body, but souls that come here are still souls. They require sleep.”

“Told ya I wasn’t soulless, brother,” Benny comments.

“That is debateable,” Cas declares. “Vampires retain some fragment of what they once were, but-”

“Okay,” Dean interrupts. “Cas, why don’t you sleep?”

“My father created angels with grace in place of a soul.”

“So, just so we’re clear, a soulless being is-”

Tossing a knife to him, Dean orders, “Benny, shut up. Cas, you fell asleep in the Impala, once.”

“I don’t remember that. Was it before or after I was temporarily human?”  

“Hell if I remember,” Dean mutters. “Alright, well, this doesn’t change anything. One way or another, we’re getting you through that damn portal. Anyways, you’ve always been less of a dick than Sammy was when he was soulless.”

“I did far worse than-”

“Cas, shut up. You’re my friend and Sam’s, and once we get back, we can start making things better, okay?”

…

Cas watches Dean shiver under Benny’s coat.

“Benny.”

Grumbling, Benny stirs and opens his eyes.

“You need to-”

“You can move,” Benny tells him. “He doesn’t care about that. He’s scared of you leaving. You really should know by now that people can be hyperbolic.”

“I-”

“What do you think he’s going to do to you if you leave?”

“He’ll find me or die trying.”

“What do you think he’s going to do if you move but don’t leave?”

“I don’t know. He might be angry.”

“Well, would you rather he be angry and cold or angry and warm?”

Hesitantly, Cas moves, takes his trench coat off, and drapes and arranges it over Dean’s body. Dean shifts, wraps the coat more firmly around himself, and a soft, “Cas,” tumbles from his mouth.

Cas moves back into his position and looks over to see Benny has fallen back asleep.

…

Dean wakes up, starts to stretch, and freezes. “Cas,” he mutters. His eyes dart to Cas’s spot. Upon seeing him, he relaxes. “Thanks, Cas. You didn’t need to.”

“You were cold.”

Benny smacks Cas’s hand when Cas tries to keep him from examining the hospital bracelet reading _Winchester, Castiel_.

“Were you cold, Benny,” Dean asks. “Cause you especially didn’t need to.”

“I’m always freezing,” Benny answers. He rolls his eyes when Cas stuffs his hands into his pockets and squints at him. “It’s been so long I’ve gotten used to it. Blood is what keeps me warm.”

…

Benny snatches the bracelet from Cas’s wrist.

“What are you doing,” Cas asks.

“You’ll get it back in a minute,” Benny answers. Holding it under the water and rubbing, he says, “I know what you’re planning. Dropped enough hints with all your talk about how unlikely the portal is to work. I’ve tried telling him, but he’s stupid and stubborn when it comes to you.”

Standing back up, he dries the bracelet.

“I can’t stop you, but you better think long and hard.” Reaching over, he puts the clean bracelet back on. “Look at it.”

When Cas does, he says, “You didn’t have a name, barely had what could be called a family. Dean gave you both. Maybe you’ll be okay not seeing his freckles, and pretty green eyes, and that smile that, near as I can tell, only you can cause, but he won’t be. I know I won’t be able to do much, and I don’t know enough about his brother to say if he can or not.”

Letting go, he adds, “And eventually, I’ll be back here. If you stay behind, and I come back and find you- It’ll be interesting, to say the least.”

Dean reappears. “Alright, I got enough stingy, healing plants to last us through the trip. What about you, brother?”

Nodding towards some purple, protruding plants on the ground, Benny says, “It won’t mask your scent, but it’ll make you and your angel smell so terrible that even I’m hardly going to be able to stand being around ya.”

“I think I’ve got a solution,” Dean says. He withdraws a pink plant from his pockets. “You can tolerate the smell of this well enough, and it’s pretty strong. We wash my jacket, cut some strips, douse ‘em, and you stick them up your nose. Better than you stumbling around and not being able to hold yourself up, at any rate.”

“That’ll make it impossible for me to smell any of them approaching.”

Cas gestures to the purple plants. “This will already do so. The other will simply make things more bearable for you.”

Taking off his jacket, Deans holds it and his knife over. “Cas, why don’t you do it?”

…

“It doesn’t strike me as a good thing, you wanting to talk to me without your angel here,” Benny comments.

“Yeah, why not?”

“I don’t rightly know.”

Taking a breath, Dean says, “Look, man- Thank you. I know you were against finding Cas and him coming with us, and I know you don’t think he’ll make it through. Still, you’ve helped me look out for him, and you’ve had my back. So- thank you.”

“It’s simple,” Benny says. “Put up with the angel or stay stuck. Tell me, brother, what do you plan to do with him if you do manage to get him through?”

Shrugging, Dean looks down. “Try to make things right, I guess.”

“I can’t say I understand.”

“I’m still pissed he didn’t listen to me, and I hate what he did to Sammy, but the thing is, when I look back on it, I wasn’t a very good friend. I can’t imagine how alone he was during the year I was with Lisa, and I never did much to help with his problems in Heaven. When I found out what he planned- I could have really listened to his reasons, I could have tried to offer other options, something.”

“You think what the angel did was your fault?”

“I think I miss my best friend,” Dean answers. “When he returned the souls to Purgatory, all I kept thinking about was, he could fix Sammy, and me and him could just go somewhere. A diner, a park, hell, even an empty church, and we could talk. Just talk. My brother will always come first, but the thing is, before Lisa and his civil war and everything, I was closer to him than anyone, including Sammy.”

“The thing is, I know it probably won’t be easy,” he finishes, “but I’m not ready to just let things end. He hurt me, I hurt him, we both have a lot of crap we could throw at each other, but- if we could just throw it out and start over instead- I’d do better, and I’d give him a chance to do better.”

“Well, my friend,” Benny says with a clasp on his shoulder, “I reckon you ought to tell him all this.”

“No. I’m going to wait until we get back. I know he doesn’t believe I can, but I will,” Dean declares.

“Suit yourself,” Benny says. “Just remember, if you can’t, I did everything I could to try to help. Standing, he says, “Now, let’s go make sure your angel hasn’t drowned.”

“Cas is an angel.”

“Okay, then, but does he know how to swim? Cause not needing to breathe won’t keep him from-”

Cursing, Dean jumps up. “I knew I shouldn’t have- I swear, if we have to fish him out of somewhere, I’m- I’m going to trap him in angel fire and fill the room with burgers, all out of his reach.”

“Tell me again why I ended up with a knife to my throat when I suggested torturing the angel.”

“He’s not your family,” Dean answers. He sighs when they come across Cas carefully drawing lines with plant juice on the jacket. “Almost ready, Cas?”

“Soon,” is the answer. “I had thought, perhaps, Anna and the others might be here. Angels, it seems, go nowhere when they die.”

Sitting down, Dean says, “Well, when we get back, maybe you and Sammy can figure out the answers to all these questions you have. First thing, we’re going to do after we drop Benny off, though, is find a diner and get some pie and burgers. Want me to cut the strips for you?”

“Neither of us have money,” Cas points out.

“Hey, Benny-”

“Nope, I’m broker than the both of you combined.”

“That doesn’t-”

“Dean, I’m starting to think your angel is too literal on purpose.”

“Dean, I’m starting to think your vampire purposely says things to ‘wind me up’.”

“First, I’m not _his_ vampire, and second, if you were like this on Earth, I know I can’t be the only one who’s ever done it.”

“Never change, you two,” Dean sighs. Standing, he helps Cas up. “Time to get ready to leave.”


End file.
